http://www.squaredancehistory.org/items/browse/tag/Henry+Ford?output=atom2015-03-03T15:19:10-05:00Omekahttp://www.squaredancehistory.org/items/show/1401here.) The Inn at the time was owned by Henry Ford. Ford had encountered dancing master Benjamin Lovett at the Inn and hired him to come to Michigan to teach dancing there to his employees. This is the earliest film in the SDHP collection to show part of The Lancers. Here we're looking at the 5th figure of the dance.

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This home movie is one of eight reels filmed in the 1930s at the Wayside Inn, Sudbury, MA. (More information about these films is available here.) The Inn at the time was owned by Henry Ford. Ford had encountered dancing master Benjamin Lovett at the Inn and hired him to come to Michigan to teach dancing there to his employees. This is the earliest film in the SDHP collection to show part of The Lancers. Here we're looking at the 5th figure of the dance.

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"Mr. Ford aspires to revive the dances of our granddaddies, with all their innocent, neighborly cavorting, and he is going about it in the methodical, wholesale way that made Detroit famous. ... Witness the case of "Mellie" Dunham, the grizzled old Maine fiddler and maker of snow-shoes—he made the pair on which Peary reached the Pole--who has become a national celebrity by the simple process of fiddling for Henry Ford."]]>2014-04-30T14:58:23-04:00

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Henry Ford attracted considerable attention when he showcased the dance fiddling of Mellie Dunham, from Maine. This lengthy contemporary account describes that relationship in detail.

"Mr. Ford aspires to revive the dances of our granddaddies, with all their innocent, neighborly cavorting, and he is going about it in the methodical, wholesale way that made Detroit famous. ... Witness the case of "Mellie" Dunham, the grizzled old Maine fiddler and maker of snow-shoes—he made the pair on which Peary reached the Pole--who has become a national celebrity by the simple process of fiddling for Henry Ford."

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Short journal article describing program sponsored by the Recreation Department of Detroit, with "Mr. Ford's dancing instructor [Benjamin Lovett]. "The dances are being enthusiasticaly received and mixed parties featuring them are held at least once a month in all the women's classes. The dances used include: the Badget Gavotte, Seaside Polka, Heel and Toe Polka, Virginia Reel, Lancers, Varsovienne, Plain Quadrilles, the Waltz and the Sicilian Circle."

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Square dance enthusiasts generally know something of the important role played by Henry Ford in encouraging an American square dance revival. This lengthy article by Paul M. Gifford examines this story in more detail and provides a more nuanced view than is commonly presented of Ford's actions and motivations.

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Benjamin Lovett, the noted dancing master who was hired by Henry Ford to promote social dancing, leads Life on the Ocean Wave, also known as the Head Two Ladies Cross Over. The musicians are the Henry Ford's Old-Time Dance Orchestra. Lovett wrote Henry Ford's "Good Morning" square dance books, and this dance appeared in the 1941 edition of that book.

The complete recording is 2:12, containing the figure four times through followed by just the tune once without calls.

This site contains an audio recording of the dance called by Duke Miller and a videotape of the dance called by Bob Livingston.

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78 rpm record

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2:23

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[Editor's note: some of the information presented in this article is disputed by other sources, but we do want to make this perspective available, especially for the first-hand account by Dick Moore.]]]>2014-04-30T14:58:19-04:00